Travel data collection and publication

ABSTRACT

Travel data may be gathered and published on a global map for use by various entities. The travel data may be captured by one or more vehicle computing devices, such as those associated with the operation and/or control of a vehicle. The vehicle computing devices may receive input from one or more sensors, and may identify and/or classify an event and/or areas of interest based on the input. The vehicle computing devices may then send travel data to the global map server for publication. Additionally or alternatively, the travel data may be captured by one or more user devices. The user devices may be configured to receive travel data, such as via a user interface, and to send the travel data to the global map server for publication. The global map server may consolidate and publish the travel data on a global map.

BACKGROUND

Vehicular and other transportation methods can be impaired due tovarious events, such as accidents and traffic. Vehicle operators areoften caught unaware of, and thus are affected by, these events.Sometimes, the vehicles controlled by the vehicle operators may furthercompound the effects of an event. For example, a driver or systemoperating a vehicle may not be aware of an accident on a roadway. Thedriver or system may operate the vehicle on the roadway, and may beslowed down or stopped, thereby adding to the congestion caused by theaccident.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanyingfigures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference numberidentifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. Thesame reference numbers in different figures indicate similar oridentical items.

FIG. 1 is an example travel data collection and publication system.

FIG. 2 is an example environment in which a vehicle may collect traveldata in a travel data collection and publication system.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram that illustrates select components of anexample global map server device used for travel data collection andpublication.

FIG. 4 is an example global map generated in a travel data collectionand publication system.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an illustrative process for gathering andpublishing travel data.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of another illustrative process for gatheringand publishing travel data.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of yet another illustrative process forgathering and publishing travel data.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally, as more data is available, better decisions can be made. Datawhich can help inform a commuter during his or her route may be, forexample, locations of regions having higher traffic than normal, typesof weather along a route, and locations of events, parking, and speedtraps, to name a few. As an example, vehicle operators may be caughtunaware of events that may impair travel in an operating environment.This disclosure is generally directed to techniques and devices forgathering real-time travel data gathered along a route, and publishingtravel data for use by various entities (e.g., vehicle operators, lawenforcement, transportation services, etc.). Travel data may include,for example, information about areas of interest, such as locations ofgas stations, restaurants, rest stops, and hotels (e.g., informationregarding quality and price), as well as information about events. Anevent may include an accident (e.g., car, train, bus, motorcycle), aconstruction zone, a chemical and/or fuel spill, a first responsevehicle (e.g., ambulance, police car, fire truck, etc.), a road block(e.g., felled tree, police cordon, etc.), fire (e.g., house fire,wildfire, etc.), disabled vehicle, facility lockdown (e.g., activeshooter scenario), inclement weather situations (e.g., flooding, roadplow, etc.), and/or other events that may affect transit and/or be ofinterest to the various entities. Additionally, travel data may comprisean indicator of a quality of the information. For example, the traveldata may indicate that the travel information was determined byautonomous systems, corroborated by a number of vehicle operators, orthe like, so as to indicate that the travel data is reliable.

The data related to travel (e.g., travel data) described herein may becaptured by one or more computing devices in an environment and providedto a global map server for consolidation on a global map and forpublication. The travel data may include a classification (e.g.,accident, construction site, fire, etc.), a description (e.g., size,effect on traffic, etc.), a location (e.g., cross streets,latitude/longitude, grid coordinates, etc.), a time stamp, anorientation and/or location of the sensor that captured the data, and/orother information associated with the event. Additionally, oralternatively, the travel data may include images (e.g., still picture,video, etc.) and/or audio data (e.g., voice data) to aid in description.

In various examples, a computing device configured to capture traveldata may comprise a computing device of a vehicle operating in theenvironment. The vehicle may include one or more sensors, such as imagecapture devices (e.g., RGB cameras, stereo cameras, depth cameras,etc.), light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensors, radio detection andranging (RADAR) sensors, global positioning system (GPS) devices, sounddetection and ranging (SONAR) sensors, an ultrasonic transducers,magnetometers, gyroscopes, accelerometers, microphones, motiondetectors, and/or other types of sensors for operating and/orcontrolling the vehicle and/or for travel data collection. The computingdevice(s) of the vehicle may include an application configured toprocess sensor input to generate travel data. In various examples, theprocessing may include identification and/or categorization of an event.After processing the sensor input, the computing device may beconfigured to send the travel data to the global map server. Forexample, a camera on a vehicle may capture images in the environment,and may send the images to the computing system. The computing devicemay detect that the images include two vehicles in proximity to oneanother, and debris surrounding the vehicles. The computing device mayidentify that the images include an event and may classify (e.g.,categorize) the event as an accident. The computing device may determinethe location of the accident, such as a latitude and longitude, and theeffect on traffic, such as a two-lane closure for eastbound traffic. Thecomputing device may then send information of the event as travel data(i.e., two-car accident at latitude/longitude, causing two-lane closure)to the global map server for publication.

In some examples, the generation and transmission of the travel data maybe performed automatically by the computing device (e.g., autonomousvehicle system). In other examples, a user of a computing device in theenvironment may input and/or capture travel data, and may send thetravel data to the global map server, such as via an application on thecomputing device. The user may be an occupant of a vehicle, apedestrian, a cyclist, or other person in the environment. For example,an occupant of an autonomous vehicle may observe the two-car accident inthe example above, as the autonomous vehicle passes the scene. Theoccupant may capture an image of the accident with an image capturedevice, and may send the image to the global map server with adescription of the accident. The global map server may consolidate thetravel data provided by the computing system of the vehicle and theuser's computing device, and may publish at least a portion of thetravel data to a global map.

As discussed above, the global map server may be configured to receivethe travel data from a plurality of computing devices, such as aplurality of vehicle computing devices and/or a plurality of usercomputing devices. The global map server may map the travel data on aglobal map. In some examples, the global map server may be configured tocategorize an event corresponding to the travel data and/or provide adescription of the event. In such examples, the categorization and/ordescription may be generated by the global map server and/or vetted by ahuman operator. For example, the global map server may receive an imageof an event from a computing device of a pedestrian, as well as thelocation of the computing device. The global map server may analyze theimage and determine the event depicted in the image is a car accident.The global map server may associate the image with the identified event(i.e., the car accident), and may map the image to the global map basedon the location of the identified event, the location of the computingdevice and/or the location and/or orientation of the sensors thatcaptured the data associated with the identified event.

In various examples, the global map server may consolidate dataassociated with a particular event. The consolidation of data may bebased on locations and/or timestamps associated with the travel data.For example, the global map server may receive the travel data andlocation from the pedestrian computing device described above, as wellas travel data from one or more vehicles nearby the location. The globalmap server may determine that the travel data from the pedestrian andthe travel data from the vehicles corresponds to the same event, and mayconsolidate the data on the global map.

In some examples, the global map server may determine a confidence levelassociated with each event (e.g., high confidence, medium confidence,low confidence, confidence score on a scale of 1-10, probability, etc.).The confidence level can be based on a number of computing devices (ofone or more vehicles and/or users) providing information correspondingto the event, a level of confidence provided by the computing device, avalidation by a trusted observer (e.g., a subscriber to a global mapservice, law enforcement, first responder, etc.), an amount of traveldata related to a single event, a freshness of the travel data (e.g.,time since the travel data was captured), or the like. For example, avehicle may include sensors, including image capture devices, placedabout the vehicle, such as on a front end and a rear end of the vehicle.Cameras on the front end may send images to the computing system as thevehicle approaches an event. The computing system may identify the eventand may categorize the event as an accident. The computing system maythen receive images of the event from the cameras on the rear end of thevehicle, as the vehicle passes and drives away from the event. By usingmultiple sets of sensors, the computing system may then confirm theevent and/or validate the categorization, indicating a high confidencelevel of the data. The computing system may then send the travel datawith a high confidence level to the global map server. For anotherexample, a law enforcement officer on the scene of an accident may sendtravel data to the global map server, such as via an application. Basedon the travel data input coming from a trusted source, the global mapserver may rate the event with a high confidence level (e.g., 10 out of10).

In some examples, the global map server may anonymize the travel data.Anonymizing the data may include removing (e.g., blur, black out, etc.)sensitive data, such as license plate numbers or other identifyinginformation (e.g., faces, distinguishing tattoos, scars, etc.).Additionally, the anonymizing may include removing offensive images fromthe global map. For example, an image of a motorcycle accident mayinclude an accident victim with a compound fracture. The global mapserver may blur or otherwise remove the accident victim from the image,to account for viewer sensitivities.

In various examples, the global map server may publish at least aportion of the travel data on a global map (e.g., consolidated map),such as via a website (e.g., a corresponding uniform resource locator),an application, or other means by which viewers may access the traveldata. In some examples, the portion may include an icon of an event orarea of interest, a location, an effect on traffic, a time the traveldata was last received and/or generated, an image, a video, adescription of the event, a detour route, a confidence level associatedwith the travel data, and/or other travel data. In various examples, theglobal map server may render the travel data and/or the global map dataavailable via an application program interface (API). In such examples,various services and/or individuals may be able to call on the API toaccess the travel data and/or the global map data.

In various examples, the global map may be viewable to subscribers of aglobal map service (e.g., an event and/or area of interest mappingservice). In such examples, the amount of travel data provided on theglobal map may be based on a subscription level of a subscriber. Forexample, a commercial trucking company may subscribe to a platinummembership for travel data. The commercial trucking company may beprovided access to a website with a map of icons depicting categoriesand locations of events, detailed descriptions, effects on traffic,images associated with the events, and suggested detour routes. Foranother example, a subscriber may purchase a bronze membership fortravel data, which includes access to a website with a map of iconsdepicting the category and/or location of events.

Additionally, a level of anonymity may be based on a subscription levelof the subscriber. For example, a police entity may be provided with asubscription with no filtering for anonymity, or a zero level ofanonymity. As such, the police accessing a website or an applicationcorresponding to the subscription may be able to view a consolidated mapwith events and corresponding travel data, including images with licenseplate numbers, etc. In various examples, a subscription may include abaseline level of anonymity, such as the removal of license platenumbers. In some examples, a subscriber may have a user profile, inwhich the subscriber may set a level of anonymity. In such examples, thesubscriber may determine how much information they would like filteredout of the travel data. For example, a parent may set a level ofanonymity to include filtering of the human form out of imagesassociated with events. In such an example, the family viewing imagesassociated with events may not be subjected to potentially gruesomeimages of victims.

To this end, examples of the present disclosure are related to systemsand methods for generating and publishing maps with areas of interestand events, and data associated therewith. To receive timely andaccurate data, it can be useful to receive crowd-sourced information.Receiving data from multiple sources increases the likelihood thattimely data is received. In addition, obtaining data from multiplesources enables the data to be verified. In other words, two (or three,or more) users or computing devices providing travel data (e.g., imagedata from one or more cell phone cameras) from a particular locationacts to verify the accuracy of the data. In some cases, as discussedbelow, data from multiple computing devices can be “fused” together toprovide more complete and accurate travel data. As such, a system isdescribed that receives travel data from a plurality of computingdevices, process the travel data, updates a global map, and publishes atleast a portion of the travel data on a global map, for viewing by auser (e.g., subscriber).

As used herein, the term “travel data” means data related to an area ofinterest or an event in an environment. The travel data may includecategorization data, location data (e.g., GPS data, grid coordinates,address, cross-streets), sensor orientation data, description data(e.g., verbal and/or text description), time data, and the like.Additionally, the travel data may include images (e.g., satelliteimages, street-view images, etc.), videos, and/or auditory descriptionsof the event.

As used herein, the term “global map” or “consolidated map” relates to arepresentation of areas of interest and/or events compiled and/orupdated by a global map server using travel data provided by one or morecomputing devices in an environment, and covering large areas (e.g.,city blocks, cities, counties, regions, etc.). By way of example and notlimitation, the global map may include topographic maps, street maps,rail maps, weather maps, and/or other types of maps. Additionally, or inthe alternative, the global map may be a topological map, a grid map, arelational database, a lookup table, or the like. The global map mayinclude travel data, as described above. Additionally, the global mapmay include route information (e.g., event detour information, drivingdirections, etc.), and/or other information related to events.

By way of example and not limitation, the term “computing device,” asused herein, includes mobile devices (e.g., smart phones, tablets,laptop computers, GPS devices, etc.), vehicle-based computers (e.g.,navigation systems, control systems, entertainment systems, sensorsystems, dash cameras, camera arrays, etc.), or other devices capable ofcollecting and/or relaying travel data, sensor data, or other data forgenerating a global map. The electronic devices can include componentssuch as, for example, cameras, accelerometers, GPS receivers, cellularand wireless transceivers, magnetometers, altimeters, compasses,gyroscopes, and other equipment, which can be used to compile and senddata. The electronic device can also include one or more image capturedevices (or cameras) including, but not limited to, low- andhigh-resolution digital still and video cameras, stereoscopiccameras—which may be capable of providing ranging information—andvehicle camera arrays (e.g., parking cameras) with multiple views.

The systems, methods, and devices described hereinafter as making up thevarious elements of the present disclosure are intended to beillustrative and not restrictive. Many suitable systems, methods, andconfigurations that would perform the same or a similar function as thesystems described herein, are intended to be included within the scopeof the disclosure. Example implementations are provided below withreference to the following figures.

FIG. 1 illustrates a data collection and publication system 100 can beimplemented. In some examples, the various devices and/or components ofsystem 100 can include a global map server 102 configured to communicatewith one or more computing devices 104, such as those onboard one ormore vehicles 106, and subscriber device(s) 108, via one or morenetworks 110. The computing device(s) 104, may include an application112 for gathering real-time sensor data and identifying data associatedwith one or more areas of interest (hotels, gas stations, restaurants,rest areas, etc) or events (e.g., an accident, a construction zone, achemical and/or fuel spill, a first response vehicle, a fire, a roadblock, a disabled vehicle, a facility lockdown, inclement weathersituations, etc.). In some examples, the computing device(s) 104 maysend travel data 114 (e.g., real-time travel data 114) to the global mapserver 102. In some examples, the computing device(s) 104 may sendsensor data (e.g., real-time sensor data) to the global map server 102.The global map server 102 may process the travel data 114 and/or sensordata, and publish a real-time global map comprising the travel data 114,such as to the subscriber device(s) 108 via the network(s) 110. Inadditional examples, the computing device(s) 104 may process the traveldata 114 and/or sensor data and send the processed data to the globalmap server 102 for incorporation into a global map and real-timepublication.

For the purpose of illustration, the vehicles 106 may comprise a fleet(e.g., a platoon) of multiple vehicles 106, each of which beingconfigured to communicate the travel data 114 to the global map server102. The vehicles 106 may be autonomous vehicles configured to operateaccording to a Level 5 classification issued by the U.S. NationalHighway Traffic Safety Administration, which describes a vehicle capableof performing all safety-critical functions for the entire trip, withthe driver (or occupant) not being expected to control the vehicle atany time. In that case, since the vehicles 106 may be configured tocontrol all functions from start to stop, including all parkingfunctions, they may be unoccupied. This is merely an example, and thesystems and methods described herein may be incorporated into anyground-borne vehicle, including those ranging from vehicles that need tobe manually controlled by a driver at all times, to those that arepartially autonomously controlled, such that they can be autonomouslycontrolled without driver attention or assist during certain drivingconditions, such as, for example, while operating on limited-accesshighways, but such that they require driver attention and/or assistanceduring other driving conditions, such as, for example, while operatingon city streets in urban areas, or during at least some parkingfunctions.

The example vehicles 106 shown in FIG. 1 are automobiles having fourwheels and respective tires for each of the wheels. Other types andconfigurations of vehicles are contemplated, such as, for example, vans,motorcycles, sport utility vehicles, cross-over vehicles, trucks, buses,agricultural vehicles, and construction vehicles. The vehicles 106 maybe powered by one or more internal combustion engines, one or moreelectric motors, hydrogen power, any combination thereof, and/or anyother suitable power sources. In addition, although the example vehicles106 have four wheels, the systems and methods described herein may beincorporated into vehicles having fewer or a greater number of wheels,tires, and/or tracks.

In various examples, the computing device 104 may be mounted in, or be acomponent of, the vehicle 106. The computing device 104 can belong to avariety of categories or classes of devices, such as traditionalconsumer-type devices, desktop computer-type devices, mobile devices,special purpose-type devices, and/or embedded-type devices. Thecomputing device 104 can include, but is not limited to, a desktopcomputer, a laptop computer, a thin client, a terminal, or other mobilecomputer, a computer navigation consumer computing device, asatellite-based navigation system device including a global positioningsystem (GPS) device, and other satellite-based navigation system device,an action camera, a smartphone, mobile phone, mobile phone-tablet hybriddevice, or other telecommunication device worn or carried by a user(e.g., pedestrians, bicyclists, etc.), a tablet computer, or a tablethybrid computer, an automotive computer such as vehicle control systemor vehicle security system, or other computing device configured toparticipate in and carry out travel data collection as described herein.Regardless of the source or vehicle 106, the multiple computing devices104 in multiple vehicles 106 can provide “crowd sourced” data thatcovers broad areas and provides up-to-date data. Additionally, usersoperating a computing device 104 (e.g., subscriber device 108), such asa cell phone, tablet, action camera, or other device worn or carried bythe user, may provide “crowd sourced data” to the global map server 102to enhance the data collection and publication system.

In some examples, the computing device(s) 104 may receive travel data114 via a user interface. The user may be an occupant of a vehicle 106in the fleet, an occupant of non-fleet vehicle, a pedestrian, bicyclist,or other person capable of operating a computing device in theenvironment. In some examples, the user may identify informationregarding an area of interest and/or an event, such as via sensoryperception (e.g., visual, audio, etc.), and may manually input traveldata 114 into the application 112 of the computing device(s) 104. Insome examples, the application 112 may automatically associate a timeand a location of the computing device with the travel data 114, andconsequently, the event. The computing device(s) 104 may then send thetravel data 114 to the global map server 102 for processing andpublication.

In various examples, the computing device(s) 104 may receive raw sensordata from one or more sensors on the vehicle 106. In some examples, theone or more sensors may include sensors on the computing device(s) 104itself. The one or more sensors may include cameras, motion detectors,accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers, wheel encoders, LIDARsensors, ultrasonic transducers, RADAR sensors, SONAR sensors, GPStransceivers, inertial measurement units (IMUs), microphones,environmental sensors (e.g., ambient temperature gauge, road surfacetemperature gauge, humidity sensor, and barometric pressure sensor,etc.), and/or other sensors configured to assist in the operation and/orcontrol of the vehicle 106. The computing device(s) 104 may process theraw sensor data, and identify one or more events, such as via theapplication 112. In some examples, the application 112 may be configuredto classify the event. The computing device(s) 104 may then send traveldata 114, such as the classification, a location, a time stamp, and adescription, to the global map server 102 for processing andpublication.

As mentioned above, the computing device(s) 104 may send travel data tothe global map server 102 via the network(s) 110. The network(s) 110 caninclude public networks such as the Internet, private networks such asan institutional and/or personal intranet, or some combination ofprivate and public networks. The network(s) 110 can also include anytype of wired and/or wireless network, including but not limited tolocal area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), near fieldcommunication (NFC), satellite networks, cable networks, Wi-Fi networks,WiMax networks, mobile communications networks (e.g., 3G, 4G, and soforth), or any combination thereof. The network(s) 110 can utilizecommunications protocols, including packet-based and/or datagram-basedprotocols such as internet protocol (IP), hypertext transfer protocol(HTTP), hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS), transmission controlprotocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), or other types ofprotocols. Moreover, network(s) 110 can also include a number of devicesthat facilitate network communications and/or form a hardware basis forthe networks, such as switches, routers, gateways, access points,firewalls, base stations, repeaters, backbone devices, and the like.

In some examples, the network(s) 110 can further include devices thatenable connection to a wireless network, such as a wireless access point(WAP). The examples which support connectivity through WAPs send andreceive data over various electromagnetic frequencies (e.g., radiofrequencies), including WAPs that support Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (e.g., 802.11g, 802.11n,and so forth), and other standards.

The global map server 102 may include global map server devices116(1)-116(N). Embodiments support scenarios where global map serverdevice(s) 116 can include one or more computing devices that operate ina cluster or other grouped configuration to share resources, balanceload, increase performance, provide fail-over support or redundancy, orfor other purposes. Global map server device(s) 116 can belong to avariety of categories or classes of devices such as traditionalserver-type devices, desktop computer-type devices, mobile devices,special purpose-type devices, and/or embedded-type devices. Thus,although illustrated as desktop and laptop computers global map serverdevice(s) 116 can include a diverse variety of device types and are notlimited to a particular type of device. Global map server device(s) 116can represent, but are not limited to, desktop computers, servercomputers or blade servers such as web-servers, map-reduce servers, orother computation engines or network-attached storage units, personalcomputers, mobile computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, or anyother sort of computing device. Furthermore, though depicted together inFIG. 1, in some examples, global map server device(s) 116 need notreside in a single location. Each of the global map server device(s) 116may be connected over a network, such as network 110, so as to reside inseparate and distinct locations.

The global map server 102 may be configured to receive and processtravel data 114 from the one or more computing device(s) 104. Asdiscussed above, the travel data 114 may include crowd sourced data frommultiple computing devices 104. In various examples, the global mapserver 102 may include a data collection and publication platformsupport 118 configured to receive and process the travel data 114.

In some examples, the global map server 102 and/or the computing device104 (whether onboard a vehicle 106 or a subscriber device 108) may beconfigured to classify an event. In some examples, the global map server102 and/or the computing device 104 may be configured to perform objectrecognition (e.g., object detection, feature extraction, feature-modelcomparison, object classification, verification) on one or more imagesof the travel data 114. In some examples, the object recognition mayinclude the use of machine learning techniques, such as deep learning,and/or other means by which a computing system may recognize (e.g.,identify and classify) objects in an image. In such examples, the globalmap server 102 may be trained by inputting a dataset associated withexpected output values into a neural network. The expected outputvalues, or “ground truth,” may include specific objects in an image, aswell as a semantic classification or label of the objects (e.g.,identifying and labeling an event as an accident). In some examples, thedatasets can include one or more images representing real-world scenesand may be annotated by hand or via one or more algorithms to segment,detect, classify, and/or label the objects in the dataset. Based on theobject recognition, the global map server 102 may determine that animage includes an event and/or may classify the event in the image. Insome examples, the object recognition algorithm may detect various areasof interest and/or may classify the areas of interest. As a non-limitingexample, the global map server 102 may classify an object detected as agas station.

In various examples, the computing device 104 and/or the global mapserver 102 may be configured to perform text recognition on travel data114. In some examples, the global map server 102 may perform textrecognition on input text and/or images. The input text may comprise adescription, a classification, a location, detour information, and/orother information related to the area of interest or event. In variousexamples, the global map server 102 may perform a semantic analysis onthe text input to determine a meaning, content, and/or context of thetext input using, for example, natural language processing techniques.In such examples, the classification of the event may be based at leastin part on the text input. In some examples, the global map server 102may perform text recognition on text identified in an image using, forexample optical character recognition (OCR). The text may comprise wordson a bumper sticker located on a vehicle, a license plate number andissuing authority, or the like. As several additional non-limitingexamples, a user may input text via the subscriber device 108 associatedwith an area of interest, such as “We got a great rate at this hotel” or“This gas station offers free coffee with a fill-up.”

Additionally or alternatively, the global map server 102 and/orcomputing device 104 may be configured to classify the event using audiosignals related to the event. In some examples, the audio signals may beuploaded in the travel data 114, such as from one or more microphones onthe vehicle 106. In some examples, the global map server 102 and/or thecomputing device 104 may perform speech recognition (e.g., automaticspeech recognition, natural language understanding, etc.) on an audiosignal, and may identify a word in the audio signal that corresponds toan event classification. The global map server 102 may thus classify theevent accordingly. For example, a passenger of a vehicle 106 may commenton the severity of an accident, or the size of a pothole in the road. Acomputing device 104 may capture the audio signal and may process theaudio signal to determine that it includes the word “crash,” or“pothole,” as the case may be. The global map server 102 and/orcomputing device 104 may identify the word and may classify the eventcorresponding to the travel data 114 as an accident or a pothole,respectively.

In some examples, the global map server 102 and/or computing device 104may be configured to determine a confidence level (e.g., confidencescore) associated with travel data 114 and/or an event and/or an area ofinterest associated therewith. The confidence level may be based on anumber of confirmations (i.e., a number of computing devices 104 thatsend data related to the event), travel data 114 received from a trustedsource (e.g., accident information from law enforcement, department oftransportation, a subscriber, etc.), a confidence level calculated bythe computing device 104, a confidence in the object, text, and/or audiorecognition processing, a freshness of the travel data 114 (e.g., timesince the travel data 114 was captured), or the like. In variousexamples, the global map server 102 may include a minimum (e.g.,threshold) confidence level. In various examples, the global map server102 may deploy a vehicle, such as an autonomous vehicle controlled bythe global map server 102, to a location in proximity to the event inorder to gather additional travel data 114 and/or confirm the existenceof the event. In some examples, the global map server 102 may delayfurther processing and/or publication of the travel data 114 until theminimum confidence level is achieved. For example, a global map server102 may receive travel data 114 from an unknown user via a computingdevice 104. Because the user is unknown, the global map server 102 mayassign the travel data 114 a low confidence level, such as a 1 out of 5.The global map server 102 may include a minimum confidence level of 2out of 5. Based on the confidence level being below the minimumconfidence level, the global map server 102 may refrain from furtherprocessing and/or publication of the travel data 114. The global mapserver 102 may then receive other travel data 114 corresponding to theevent, such as from a known user or computing device 104 on a vehicle106. The global map server 102 may process the other travel data 114,and may increase the confidence level associated with the event, such asto a 3 out of 5. Based on the increased confidence level above theminimum confidence level, the global map server 102 may further processand/or publish data related to the event.

In various examples, the global map server 102 may process travel data114 provided by multiple computing devices 104, and may determine a timeand/or quality associated with the travel data 114. In some examples,the global map server 102 may parse the travel data 114 into differenttypes of travel data 114, and may evaluate the time and/or qualityassociated with each type of travel data 114. The global map server 102may then filter the travel data 114, and further process and/or publishthe most recent and/or highest quality travel data 114. For example, theglobal map server 102 may receive two images associated with an eventfrom two sources. The first image may be of low quality (e.g., generallyblurred image), and the second may be of a higher quality (e.g.,generally crisp image). The global map server 102 may determine that thesecond image is a superior image (e.g., better depiction of the event),and may select the second image for further processing and/orpublication. For another example, the global map server 102 may receivetravel data 114 related to a particular event from multiple computingdevices 104. The global map server 102 may determine a time associatedwith each travel data 114, and may select the most recent travel data114 for publication.

In various examples, the global map server 102 and/or the computingdevice 104 may be configured to anonymize the travel data 114.Anonymizing the data may include filtering (e.g., removing, blurring torender unrecognizable, etc.) sensitive data from the travel data 114.Sensitive data may include data which can be used to identify anindividual, such as license plate numbers, bumper stickers, physicalcharacteristics (e.g., a face, a distinctive tattoo, etc.), voices, orother data. Additionally, sensitive data may include offensive language,and/or other undesirable images or audio. In various examples, theglobal map server 102 and/or computing device 104 may be configured torecognize the sensitive data for anonymity filtering. In some examples,the recognition may be by object, text, and/or speech recognition. Invarious examples, the global map server 102 may apply machine learningtechniques to identify sensitive data in travel data 114. In suchexamples, the global map server 102 may be trained with a dataset torecognize license plates, names, words, phrases, and/or other sensitivedata. Additionally, the anonymizing may include removing offensiveimages from the travel data 114. For example, an image of a motorcycleaccident may include an accident victim with a compound fracture. Theglobal map server 102 and/or computing device 104 may blur or otherwiseremove the accident victim from the image, to account for viewersensitivities.

In various examples, the global map server 102 may be configured togenerate a global map including identified events and/or areas ofinterest and corresponding travel data 114. The global map may include atopographic map, a street map, a rail map, a weather map, and/or anothertype of map. As non-limiting examples, the global map is one or more ofa topological map, a grid map, a relational database, or a lookup table,though any other representation is contemplated. The global map mayinclude icons corresponding to an event, an area of interest, alocation, an effect on traffic, a time the travel data was last received(e.g., a timestamp), an image, a video, a description of the eventand/or area of interest, a detour route, and/or other travel data 114.In some examples, the global map server 102 may be configured to assignan icon based in part on the classification of the event and/or area ofinterest. In some examples, the global map server 102 may be configuredto determine routing information (e.g., detour information, drivingdirections, etc.) associated with one or more events. In such examples,the global map may include the routing information.

In various examples, the global map server 102 may publish the globalmap, such as to a website or an application accessible by one or moresubscriber devices 108. In various examples, the information included inthe global map may be based on a subscription to a global map service(e.g., a service provided by the global map server 102). In suchexamples, the subscription may define a level of detail a subscriber mayreceive on the global map. For example, a subscriber may have a level 1subscription to the global map service. The level 1 subscription mayinclude event classification (e.g., icon) and location information only.As such, the subscriber access may be limited to a global map with iconsin corresponding locations. For another example, a subscriber may have alevel 10 subscription to the global map. The level 10 subscription mayinclude event classification, location information, available imagery,effects on traffic, detour routing, and any other available information.The level 10 subscriber may thus have access to a global map with theavailable travel data and routing information for each event.

In various examples, a subscriber to the global map service may maintaina subscription profile. The subscription profile may include thesubscriber information, a subscription level and/or user preferencesrelated to travel data. In some examples, the subscription profile mayinclude a level of anonymity (e.g., an amount of blurred or retractedinformation) associated with the travel data. In such examples, thelevel of anonymity may be based on the subscriber information, asubscription level, and/or user preferences. In some examples, asubscription profile may include a zero level of anonymity, in whichlittle to no information may be blurred or removed from images and/oraudio recordings (e.g., audio signals). For example, a law enforcementsubscription profile may include access to all available travel datawith a global map, including sensitive data. In such an example, lawenforcement officers may be able to identify vehicles and/orowners/operators, such as during a surveillance and/or if an all-pointsbulletin (APB) associated with a vehicle and/or the owner and/oroperator thereof is issued. Thus, the crowd-sourced real-time dataprovided in the global map may improve the safety and security of thecommunity.

In some examples, the level of anonymity may include a minimum amount(e.g., a baseline) of anonymity. In such examples, a minimum amount ofsensitive or otherwise identifying information may be removed fromimages and/or audio prior to publication. For example, subscriberaccounts with a minimum level of anonymity may include images withblurred license plate numbers. An additional level of anonymity (abovethe minimum amount) may be determined by a subscription level and/oruser preferences. For example, a subscriber may include a userpreference to have human forms in an image blurred, and to have audiodata filtered out prior to publication. Based on the preferences, theglobal map server 102 and/or the web site or application may filter outdata.

In some examples, the global map server 102 may store the subscriptionprofile in a data store of one or more global map server devices 116. Insuch examples, the global map server 102 may apply the subscriptionprofile, and filter out data unrelated to the level of subscriptionand/or process data based on user preferences prior to publication.

In some examples, the subscription profile may be stored on a data storeof the subscriber device 108. In such examples, an application (e.g.,global map viewing application) on the subscriber device 108 may applythe filter to travel data based on a subscription level and/or userpreferences associated with the subscriber. The subscriber may thus viewtravel data 114 corresponding to the subscription level and/or userpreferences.

In various examples, the subscription profile may be stored on a datastore of a distributed computing platform or other computing devicecorresponding to a global map website. In such examples, the subscribermay sign into the website via the subscriber device 108, such as with adiscrete user name and password, and may access a global mapcorresponding to the subscription profile.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example environment 200 in which a vehicle 202 maycollect travel data in a travel data collection and publication system.As discussed above, vehicle 202, such as vehicle 106, may include acomputing device 204, such as computing device 104, configured to gatherreal-time sensor data and/or travel data associated with an event.

The computing device 204 on the vehicle 202 may include a computingdevice having one or more processors 206 operably connected to anon-transitory computer-readable media (CRM) 208, such as via a bus,which in some instances can include one or more of a system bus, a databus, an address bus, a PCI bus, a Mini-PCI bus, and any variety oflocal, peripheral, and/or independent buses.

CRM 208 may be configured to store executable instructions/modules,data, and/or data items accessible by the processor(s) 206. In variousimplementations, the non-transitory CRM 208 may be implemented using anysuitable memory technology, such as static random access memory (SRAM),synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), nonvolatile/Flash-typememory, or any other type of memory. In the illustrated example, programinstructions and data implementing desired functions, such as datacollection and publication platform support 210, which may comprise aplatform support for an application, such as application 112, are shownstored within the non-transitory computer readable memory. In otherexamples, program instructions, and/or data may be received, sent orstored on different types of computer-accessible media, such asnon-transitory media, or on similar media separate from thenon-transitory computer readable media. Generally speaking, anon-transitory, CRM 208 may include storage media or memory media, suchas flash memory (e.g., solid-state memory), magnetic or optical media(e.g., a disk) coupled to a vehicle operation control system via aninput/output (I/O) interface 212. Program instructions and data storedvia a non-transitory CRM 208 may be transmitted by transmission media orsignals such as electrical, electromagnetic, or digital signals, whichmay be conveyed via a communication medium such as a network and/or awireless link, such as may be implemented via one or more networkinterfaces 214.

The network interface(s) 214 may be configured to enable communicationsbetween the computing device 204 of the vehicle 202 and a global mapserver, such as global map server 102 over a network. Such networkinterface(s) 214 can include one or more network interface controllers(NICs) or other types of transceiver devices to send and receivecommunications over a network. In various examples, the networkinterface(s) 214 can also include a mobile network interface to enablecommunication between the computing device 204 and the global map serverover a mobile communication network connection (e.g., global system formobile communications network (GSM), code division multiple access(CDMA), etc.). Additionally, or alternatively, the network interface(s)214 can include one or more proximity interfaces, which can furtherinclude hardware and software to communicate via a proximity network, tofurther enable communications with computing devices of other vehicles202, such as the fleet of vehicles depicted in FIG. 1. The proximitynetwork can be peer-to-peer, wireless USB, Bluetooth, IrDA, Z-Wave, bodyarea, or any other wired or wireless path based on the proximity of atleast two computing devices. Proximity can be determined by wiredconnections and/or proximity sensors. In the proximity network, thevehicles 202 can share data between each other via a proximity network.

In one implementation, the I/O interface 212 may be configured tocoordinate I/O traffic between the processor(s) 206, the non-transitoryCRM 208, and one or more input devices 216, the network interface(s)214, and/or other peripheral interfaces, such as output devices. In someexamples, the I/O interface 212 may perform any necessary protocol,timing or other data transformations to convert data signals from onecomponent (e.g., the non-transitory CRM 208) into a format suitable foruse by another component (e.g., processor(s) 206). In some examples, theI/O interface 212 may include support for devices attached throughvarious types of peripheral buses, such as a variant of the PeripheralComponent Interconnect (PCI) bus standard or the Universal Serial Bus(USB) standard, for example. In some implementations, the function ofthe I/O interface 212 may be split into two or more separate components,such as a north bridge and a south bridge, for example. Also, in someimplementations, some or all of the functionality of the I/O interface212, such as an interface to the non-transitory CRM 208, may beincorporated directly into the processor(s).

As discussed above, the computing device 204 may include a datacollection and publication platform support 210 configured to receiveand process real-time data. In some examples, the data may be input by auser, such as via a user interface 218. For example, an input device 216of the computing device 204 may include a keyboard (or touch sensor,mouse, etc.) located inside an occupant portion of the vehicle. Anoccupant of the vehicle 202 may input travel data, such as a descriptionof an accident 224, via the input device 216. The travel data maysubsequently be processed by the data collection and publicationplatform support 210.

In various examples, the data may include raw sensor data from one ormore sensors 220 on the vehicle 202. The sensor(s) 220 may includecameras, LIDAR sensors, RADAR sensors, (GPS) devices, IMUs, gyroscopes,accelerometers, magnetometers, microphones, weather sensors, and/orother types of sensors for operating and/or controlling the vehicleand/or for travel data collection. In some examples, the raw sensor datamay be data collected by the computing device 204 to assist in theoperation and/or control of the vehicle 202.

The sensor(s) 220 may capture data in a field of view of the sensors.Though illustrated as having a field of view in a front end of thevehicle 202, the one or more sensors may include a field of view at arear end of the vehicle, at the sides of the vehicle 202, on a topand/or bottom portion, inside the vehicle 202, such as in an occupantportion, or any other area of the vehicle on which a sensor 220 may bemounted.

The sensor(s) 220 may capture data, and send the sensor data to the datacollection and publication platform support 210 for processing. In someexamples, the sensor data may include identifying information about aparticular sensor 220 from which the data was captured (e.g., a framerate, intrinsics, etc.), a time of capture, or the like. In someexamples, the data collection and publication platform support 210 mayinclude a travel data classifier 222 configured to process the sensordata and identify one or more events. In various examples, the sensordata may include one or more images captured by a camera, such as imagesof the accident 224. In such examples, the travel data classifier 222may perform object recognition (e.g., object detection, featureextraction, feature-model comparison, object classification,verification) on the one or more images. Based on the objectrecognition, the travel data classifier 222 may determine that an imageincludes an event and/or area of interest. Additionally, the travel dataclassifier 222 may be configured to assign a classifier to the eventand/or area of interest based on one or more objects recognized in theimage. For example, an image depicting the accident 224 in FIG. 2, maybe determined to be an event and classified as a two-car accident.

In various examples, the travel data classifier 222 may be configured toconfirm and/or verify the event and/or classification thereof. In someexamples, travel data classifier 222 may perform object recognition onimages from multiple cameras. In such examples, the computing device 204may confirm that the event exists (i.e., not detected based on erroneousinput from one camera), and may verify the initial classification of theevent. For example, a camera mounted on a front end of a vehicle 202 maycapture a first set of images. The camera may send the first set ofimages to a computing device 204 on the vehicle 202. A travel dataclassifier 222 of the computing device 204 may perform objectrecognition on the first set of images and may determine that the firstset of images includes an event, such as the accident 224. As thevehicle 202 passes the accident 224, a camera mounted on a rear end ofthe vehicle 202 may capture a second set of images of the accident 224,and may send the second set of images to the computing device 204. Thetravel data classifier 222 may perform object recognition on the secondset of images, and may determine that the second set of images alsoinclude the accident 224. The travel data classifier 222 may thenconfirm the event and classification thereof.

In some examples, the travel data classifier 222 may be configured toidentify and/or classify an event and/or area of interest based on asemantic scene parsing. In such examples, the travel data classifier 222may process sensor data, sensor position data, sensor orientation data,and/or object data, such as that determined using object recognition onthe images to segment objects from an image and/or provide a context forsuch objects. In various examples, based at least in part on thesegmented object and/or context, the travel data classifier 222 maydetermine a classification of an event. The travel data classifier 222may include a library of contexts (e.g., words or phrases describingevents) and/or relationships between object classifications and contextsfor use in determining the event classification.

The travel data classifier 222 may compare the input data and/orhigh-level description of the event to the event description listing todetermine a classification (e.g., semantic meaning or description) ofthe event. Accordingly, the sensor data, sensor position data, sensororientation data, and/or object data may be mapped to a correspondingevent description in the event description listing to identify acorresponding semantic label, classification, or description of theevent. As a non-limiting example, the semantic scene parsing may segmenttwo vehicles from an image of a camera sensor and provide the contextthat a first vehicle is colliding with a second vehicle. In such anexample, the travel data classifier may determine that there is an eventand the event is classified as an accident.

In various examples, the travel data classifier 222 may apply machinelearning techniques to determine whether the image includes an event. Insuch examples, the travel data classifier 222 may be trained byinputting a dataset associated with expected output values into one ormore networks, such as convolutional neural networks or support vectormachines. The expected output values may include specific objects in animage, sizes and shapes thereof, as well as a semantic classification orlabel of the objects (e.g., identifying and labeling an event as anaccident). In some examples, the machine learning algorithms mayadditionally output a confidence level in the identification and/orclassification of the event. In some examples, the datasets can includeone or more images representing real-world scenes and may be annotatedby hand or via one or more algorithms to segment, detect, classify,and/or label the objects in the dataset. In examples using machinelearning techniques, the travel data classifier 222 may be able toquickly and accurately identify and classify an event and/or area ofinterest. Additionally, based on feedback or input from other computingdevices and/or occupants of the vehicle 202, the machine learningalgorithms may be continually updated and/or verified.

In various examples, the travel data classifier 222 may be configured toperform text recognition on travel data. In some examples, the traveldata classifier 222 may perform text recognition on input text. Theinput text may comprise a description, a classification, a location,detour information, and/or other information related to the event. Invarious examples, the travel data classifier 222 may perform a semanticanalysis on the text input (e.g., using natural language processing) todetermine a meaning, content, and/or context of the text input. In suchexamples, the classification of the event may be based at least in parton the text input. In some examples, the travel data classifier 222 mayperform text recognition on text identified in an image. The text maycomprise words on a bumper sticker located on a vehicle, a license platenumber and issuing authority, or the like.

In some examples, the travel data classifier 222 may receive audiosignals (e.g., audio input) from one or more microphones and may employspeech recognition techniques for classifying and/or confirming aclassification of an observed event. The one or more microphones may bemounted to an external surface of the vehicle 202 or an internalsurface, such as in an occupant portion of the vehicle 202. In someexamples, the travel data classifier 222 may be configured to initiallyidentify an event and/or area of interest using the sensor(s) 220, andmay determine that an occupant is present in the occupant portion of thevehicle 202. Based on a determination of the occupant in the vehicle202, the travel data classifier 222 may cause one or more questions tobe asked to the occupant, such as via a speaker in the occupant portion.The travel data classifier 222 may then process the responses usingspeech recognition, and may classify the event (or area of interest)and/or validate a classification (e.g., assign a higher confidence levelin the classification) based in part on the responses. For example, acamera on the front end of the vehicle 202 may observe the accident 224.The travel data classifier 222 may ask an occupant how many cars areinvolved. Based on a response that two cars are involved in the accident224, the travel data classifier 222 may validate a classification as atwo-car collision. In some examples, the travel data classifier 222 mayprovide the global map server with the questions and responses as aportion of the travel data.

The speech recognition may include automatic speech recognition, naturallanguage processing, or other type of speech recognition technology. Insome examples, the travel data classifier 222 may be configured toassociate the audio signal with an identified (e.g., observed) event,such as that identified based on one or more received images, and storethe audio signal as travel data. For example, an occupant of the vehicle202 may observe the accident 224 and exclaim “wow, did you see thatcrash?” Responsive to recognizing the word “crash,” the travel dataclassifier 222 may classify and/or confirm an event observed by one ormore other sensors 220 as an accident. For another example, thecomputing device 204 may receive audio signal corresponding to a firstresponder vehicle siren from one or more microphones. Based on the sirendetection, the computing device 204 may identify that there is an eventnearby a location of the vehicle 202. In some examples, the audio signalmay be used by the travel data classifier 222 and/or the data collectionand publication platform support 210 as a confirmation or and/or toassign an increased confidence level to the identification and/orclassification of the event.

In various examples, the data collection and publication platformsupport 210 and/or the travel data classifier 222 may assign an initialconfidence level to an identification and/or classification of an event.The initial confidence level may be based on a success of objectrecognition, an output of a machine learning algorithm, a validation ofthe event by a secondary input (e.g., two or more sensors providinginput indicating an event), or the like. For example, a camera on thevehicle 202 may send images of the accident 224 to the computing device204. Based on a recognition of objects in the images substantiallymatching known objects, the travel data classifier 222 can assign amedium confidence level (e.g., 5 out of 10) to the classification as anaccident. Additionally, the computing device 204 may receive audio inputdescribing the event as an accident. The additional audio input may beprocessed by the travel data classifier 222, and the travel dataclassifier 222 may increase the confidence level, such as to a 7 out of10, based on the confirmation.

In various examples, the computing device 204 may determine a locationof a detected event. The computing device 204 may determine the locationby inputting a location of the computing device 204 and/or the vehicle202 and sensor data from a distance and/or direction sensor, such as aLIDAR sensor, on the vehicle 202. In some examples, the location of thecomputing device 204 and/or the vehicle 202 may be determined bytriangulating signals received from cell towers. In various examples,the location of the computing device 204 and/or the vehicle 202 may bedetermined based on data received from a GPS receiver, an IMU, and/orother navigation sensor on the vehicle 202. For example, a GPS receivermay determine a latitude and longitude of the vehicle 202, and a LIDARsensor may determine a distance and direction from the vehicle 202 tothe event. The computing device 204 may use the location of the vehicle202 and the distance and direction (e.g., bearing) to the event todetermine a latitude and longitude of the event.

In various examples, the travel data classifier 222 may compile dataassociated with an event, such as the accident 224, from the sensor(s)220 and/or input device(s) 216. The data collection and publicationplatform support 210 may then send the travel data associated with theaccident 224 to the global map server via the network interface(s) 214for processing and publication on a real-time global map. In someexamples, the travel data classifier 222 may send an identifierassociated with the vehicle 202, the computing device 204, and/or thesensor(s) 220 used to capture the travel data. In such examples, theglobal map server may identify the source of the travel data, such asfor a confidence level determination. In some examples, responsive toreceiving the travel data from the computing device 204, the global mapserver may automatically map the event and/or travel data on a globalmap and publish the global map. In such examples, the computing device204 may cause the global map server to publish at least a portion of theglobal map and/or information derived (e.g., derived data) from theglobal map.

Additionally or alternatively, an observer 226 of the accident 224 maysend travel data (e.g., real-time travel data) to the global map serverfor processing and publication. In the illustrative example, theobserver 226 may send the travel data via a user computing device 228(e.g., computing device 104 from FIG. 1). In some examples, the usercomputing device 228 may include an application (e.g., application 112)or a data collection and publication platform support (e.g., datacollection and publication platform support 210) for inputting anduploading travel data to the global map server.

The observer 226 may observe the accident 224, and may input travel datainto the user computing device 228. The travel data may include aclassification as a two-car accident, a location of the user computingdevice 228, an address nearby the accident 224, cross-streets associatedwith the accident 224, text, and/or audio description of the accident224 (e.g., injury accident, lanes of traffic blocked, etc.), an imageassociated with the accident 224, or any other information that may bebeneficial to the public.

Similar to computing device 204, the user computing device 228 mayupload the travel data to the global map server for processing andpublication on a real-time global map. In some examples, responsive toreceipt of second travel data associated with the accident 224, theglobal map server may validate an existence of the accident and/orassign a higher confidence level to the travel data received from thecomputing device 204 of the vehicle 202. Additionally, the global mapserver may combine travel data from the computing device 204 and theuser computing device 228, and publish the combined travel data with theglobal map. For example, the global map server may use location andclassification data from the travel data provided by computing device204, and images and descriptions from the travel data provided by theuser computing device 228.

In some examples, responsive to receiving the travel data from thecomputing device 228, the global map server may automaticallyincorporate the travel data into a global map and publish at least aportion of the global map and/or information derived from the globalmap. In such examples, the computing device 228 may cause the global mapserver to publish the requested data.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example computing device 300 configured with atravel data collection and publication system, such as global map serverdevice 116 from FIG. 1 or computing device 204 from FIG. 2. In computingdevice 300, processing unit(s) 302 can represent, for example, one ormore of a CPU-type processing unit, a GPU-type processing unit, afield-programmable gate array (FPGA), another class of digital signalprocessor (DSP), or other hardware logic components that may, in someinstances, be driven by a CPU. For example, and without limitation,illustrative types of hardware logic components that can be used includeApplication-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Application-SpecificStandard Products (ASSPs), System-on-a-chip systems (SOCs), ComplexProgrammable Logic Devices (CPLDs), etc.

In some examples, computing device 300 can be one of a plurality ofdevices, such as global map server devices 116(1), 116(2), and 116(N),which are part of a distributed service platform (e.g. the Cloud). Insome examples, computing device 300 can be one of a plurality of deviceswhich are capable of connection via a proximity network. In variousexamples, computing device 300 can be one of a plurality of deviceswhich are both part of a distributed service platform and capable ofconnection via a proximity network.

In some examples, CRM 304 may store instructions executable by theprocessing unit(s) 302, which as discussed above, can represent aprocessing unit incorporated in computing device 300. CRM 304 can alsostore instructions executable by external processing units such as by anexternal CPU-type processing unit 306, an external GPU-type processingunit 308, and/or executable by an external accelerator 310, such as anFPGA-type accelerator 310(1), a DSP-type accelerator 310(2), or anyother accelerator 310(N). In various examples, at least one CPU-typeprocessing unit, GPU-type processing unit, and/or accelerator isincorporated in computing device 300, while in some examples one or moreof a CPU-type processing unit, GPU-type processing unit, and/oraccelerator is external to computing device 300.

In the illustrated example, CRM 304 also includes a data store 312. Insome examples, data store 312 includes data storage such as a database,data warehouse, or other type of structured or unstructured datastorage. In some examples, data store 312 can include a corpus and/or arelational database with one or more tables, indices, stored procedures,and so forth to enable data access including one or more of hypertextmarkup language (HTML) tables, resource description framework (RDF)tables, web ontology language (OWL) tables, and/or extensible markuplanguage (XML) tables, for example. Data store 312 can store data forthe operations of processes, applications, components, and/or modulesstored in CRM 304 and/or executed by processing unit(s) 302.Additionally, the data store 312 can store travel data, such as in anevent description listing, which may include a library of eventdescriptions written using the Semantic Description Language.Alternately, some or all of the above-referenced data and/orinstructions can be stored on separate memories 314 on board one or moreprocessing unit(s) 302, CPU-type processing unit 306, GPU-typeprocessing unit 308 and/or accelerator(s) 310. For example, the datastore 312 may store subscriber profiles for one or more subscribers of atravel data mapping service.

Computing device 300 can further include one or more input/output (I/O)interfaces 316 to allow computing device 300 to communicate withinput/output devices such as user input devices including peripheralinput devices (e.g., a keyboard, a mouse, a pen, a game controller, avoice input device, a touch input device, a gestural input device, andthe like) and/or output devices including peripheral output devices(e.g., a display, a printer, audio speakers, a haptic output, and thelike). In addition, in computing device 300, network interface(s) 318can represent, for example, network interface controllers (NICs) orother types of transceiver devices to send and receive communicationsover a network, such as network 104.

In the illustrated example, computing device 300 can operably connectthe processing unit(s) 302 to CRM 304, I/O interface(s) 316, and networkinterface(s) 318 via a bus 320. In some examples, bus 320 can includeone or more of a system bus, a data bus, an address bus, a PCI bus, aMini-PCI bus, and any variety of local, peripheral, and/or independentbuses.

In the illustrated example, CRM 304 also includes an operating system322, which can be any type of operating system, such as MICROSOFTWINDOWS, WINDOWS, QNX™, IBM z/OS™, LINUX, ANDROID, iOS™, OS X™, NETBSD™,or any other operating system capable of managing computer hardware andsoftware resources on computing device 300.

CRM 304 also includes a data collection and publication platform support324, which can be travel data collection and publication platformsupport 118, 210. Data collection and publication platform support 324can include one or more modules and/or APIs, which are illustrated asmapping module 326 and publication module 328, although this is just anexample, and the number can vary higher or lower. Functionalitydescribed associated with the mapping module 326 and the publicationmodule 328 can be combined to be performed by a fewer number of modulesand/or APIs, or it can be split and performed by a larger number ofmodules and/or APIs.

In various examples, the mapping module 326 may be configured to receivetravel data (e.g., real-time travel data) from one or more computingdevices, such as computing devices 104, 116, 204. Such travel data maycomprise an event and/or an area of interest. As an example, an eventmay include an accident (e.g., car, train, bus, motorcycle), aconstruction zone, a chemical and/or fuel spill, a first responsevehicle (e.g., ambulance, police car, fire truck, etc.), a road block(e.g., felled tree, police cordon, etc.), fire (e.g., house fire,wildfire, etc.), disabled vehicle, facility lockdown (e.g., activeshooter scenario), inclement weather situations (e.g., flooding, roadplow, etc.), and/or other events that may affect transit. An area ofinterest may include a hotel, a gas station, a rest stop, etc. Thetravel data may include a classification (e.g., accident, constructionsite, fire, etc.), a description (e.g., size, effect on traffic, etc.),a location (e.g., cross streets, latitude/longitude, etc.), a timestamp, an orientation and/or location of the sensor that captured thedata, and/or other information associated with the event. Additionallyor alternatively, the travel data may include images (e.g., stillpicture, video, etc.) and/or voice data describing the event. In someexamples, the travel data may include sensor data, such as from one ormore sensors of a vehicle.

In various examples, the mapping module 326 may be configured to analyzetravel data to determine a classification of the travel data. In suchexamples, the mapping module 326 may perform object, text, and/or speechrecognition on the travel data in addition to, or in lieu of objectand/or speech recognition performed by the computing device providingthe travel data. In some examples, the mapping module 326 may employ asemantic scene parsing to define various entities and actions in thetravel data. In such examples, the scene parsing may provide ahigh-level description of the event which may be used to identify and/orclassify an event. In some examples, the mapping module 326 may analyzean event description listing (e.g., library of event descriptions) todetermine a classification of an event. In such examples, the mappingmodule 326 may compare input travel data, such as sensor data, sensorposition data, sensor orientation data and/or object data, and may mapthe input sensor data to a corresponding event description in the eventdescription listing to identify a corresponding semantic label,classification, and/or description of the event. In various examples,the mapping module 326 may apply machine learning techniques to thetravel data to identify and/or classify events. In such examples, themapping module 326 may be trained to identify and/or classify events inreceived travel data, such as by training a neural network with adataset including multiple events and associated classifications.

As discussed above, data associated with an event may be crowd sourced,or provided by multiple computing devices. As such, the mapping module326 may be configured to process travel data from multiple sources, andgroup the travel data from multiple sources by event and/or area ofinterest. The mapping module 326 may group the travel data based on alocation of the event (or area of interest) and/or a description of theevent (or area of interest). Additionally, the mapping module 326 may beconfigured to select travel data associated with each event (or area ofinterest) for publication (e.g., travel data to send to the publicationmodule). In some examples, the mapping module 326 may select the traveldata for publication based on a time associated with a collection of thetravel data. In such examples, the mapping module 326 may evaluate atimestamp or other timing information associated with travel data, andmay rank received travel data by the time collected.

Additionally or alternatively, the mapping module 326 may select traveldata for publication based on a quality of the travel data. In variousexamples, the mapping module 326 may evaluate a quality of travel dataassociated with each event and/or area of interest, and may rank thetravel data based on the quality. In such examples, the selection may bebased on the ranking (e.g., highest ranking travel data per event and/orarea of interest). In some examples, the quality may be determined by ananalysis of sensor data (e.g., an image and/or audio signal), such as ifan image is blurred or the audio signal includes a lot of backgroundnoise. In some examples, the quality may be determined based on aconfidence level associated with the travel data, as calculated by thecomputing device 204.

In various examples, the mapping module 326 may be configured to parseand/or combine travel data from various sources for publication. In suchexamples, the parsing and/or mapping may be performed to provide themost up to date, high quality travel data for publication. For example,the mapping module 326 may receive travel data associated with an eventfrom three sources. The first travel data may include a location and ablurred image, the second travel data may include a location and anaudio description, and the third travel data may include a location anda crisp image. The mapping module 326 may select the location data fromthe first travel data, the audio description from the second traveldata, and the crisp image from the third travel data, and send thecombined travel data to the publication module 328 for publishing.

In some examples, the mapping module 326 may be configured to determinea confidence level (i.e., global confidence level) of the receivedtravel data. In such examples, the global confidence level may be basedon a number of computing devices providing information corresponding tothe event, a level of confidence provided by the computing device, avalidation or input by a trusted observer (e.g., a subscriber to anevent and/or area of interest mapping service, law enforcement, firstresponder, etc.), an amount of travel data related to a single event, orthe like. In various examples, a particular source (e.g., computingdevice) may be recognized by the mapping module 326 as providing betteror more trusted data than other sources. For example, the better or moretrusted data may be based on technical capabilities (e.g., higherresolution sensors) and/or a historical accuracy (e.g., 97% of thecaptured data from the device is accurately classified) of theparticular source. In various examples, the mapping module 326 mayselect travel data for publication based in part on the confidence levelof the travel data. In some examples, the mapping module 326 may includea minimum confidence level (i.e., threshold confidence) to apply totravel data in order for the travel data to be selected for publication.For example, the mapping module 326 may have a minimum confidence levelof 5 out of 10. The mapping module 326 may receive travel data from anunknown source, and may assign an initial confidence level (e.g., 2 outof 10) to the travel data. The mapping module 326 may not select thetravel data for publication until additional travel data associated withthe event is received, and the confidence level increases above theminimum confidence level.

In various examples, the mapping module 326 may send the selected traveldata to the publication module 328, for publication. In some examples,the mapping module 326 may be configured to update the travel data forpublication. The mapping module 326 may send updated information to thepublication module continuously, as new travel data is received fromvarious computing devices, and/or it may send updated information on afixed time interval, such as every 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, orthe like. In some examples, a fixed time interval may be based on anevent classification. For example, travel data associated with aconstruction zone may be updated hourly and travel data associated withan accident may be updated more often, such as every minute.

In various examples, the publication module 328 may receive selectedtravel data from the mapping module 326. In some examples, thepublication module 328 may anonymize the travel data prior topublication. Anonymizing the data may include filtering (e.g., removing)sensitive data from the travel data. Sensitive data may include datawhich can be used to identify an individual, such as license platenumbers, bumper stickers, physical characteristics (e.g., black outfaces, blur faces, etc.), voices, or other data. Additionally, sensitivedata may include offensive language, and/or other undesirable images oraudio. For example, an image of a motorcycle accident may include anaccident victim with a compound fracture. The publication module 328 mayblur or otherwise remove the accident victim from the image, to accountfor viewer sensitivities.

In various examples, the publication module 328 may be configured torecognize the sensitive data for anonymity filtering. In some examples,the recognition may be based on object, text, and/or speech recognitionperformed by the mapping module 326. For example, objects in an imagemay be labeled or otherwise recognized, such as by a bounding box of aparticular size and/or shape. For another example, offensive language ina bumper sticker captured in an image may be identified during textrecognition, and filtered out by the publication module 328.

In various examples, the publication module 328 may anonymize the datato a baseline (e.g., minimum) level of anonymity. In such examples, thepublication module 328 may remove and/or blur one or more types ofsensitive data recognized in travel data. For example, the publicationmodule 328 may remove and/or blur license plates from images associatedwith an event. In some examples, the publication module 328 mayanonymize the data based on a subscription to a global map service. Forexample, a law enforcement subscription may include a low (e.g., a 1) orzero level of anonymity. A law enforcement officer may thus be able toview sensitive data in images. For another example, a delivery companymay have a higher level of anonymity (e.g., 2 or 3), such as thatassociated with no license plates or other identifying information.

In some examples, the publication module 328 may have access to asubscriber profile, such as that stored in a data store 312 or otherinternal and/or external storage of the computing device 300. Thesubscriber profile may include subscription data (e.g., subscriptionlevel, user preferences, and/or other data associated with thesubscription). In some examples, the publication module 328 may evaluatethe subscription data and may anonymize the data based on the subscriberprofile.

In various examples, the publication module 328 may publish a globalmap, such as that depicted in FIG. 4, for access by a viewer. In someexamples, the publication module 328 may publish at least a portion of,or information derived from, the global map to a website and/or anapplication. Such a publication may comprise providing an applicationprogrammer interface (API), or otherwise, to publish such data uponrequest. The global map may include a topographic map, a street map, arail map, a weather map, and/or another type of map. In some examples,the global map may be a topological map, a grid map, or some otherrepresentation of the data. In some examples, the global map may includeevents mapped based on a corresponding location, and associate variousicons with the map. Additionally, the global map may include travel datacorresponding to areas of interest and/or events, such as a time, animage, a video, a description, a detour route, an effect on traffic, orthe like. In some examples, the amount and/or type of travel datapublished on a global map may be based on a subscription and/or asubscriber profile. The subscription and/or subscriber profile may beidentified based on a user identification and/or password, a computingdevice, an application, or the like, which is used for accessing thepublished map. For example, a subscriber may sign into a website usedfor global map publication. The publication module 328 and/or thecomputing device controlling the website may identify the subscriberprofile associated with the subscriber as a baseline subscription thatincludes a global map with events mapped in the responding locations.The publication module 328 may thus make available a global map with theevent icons in the corresponding locations.

As discussed above, the publication module 328 may receive updatedtravel data from the mapping module 326. The publication module 328 maycontinuously and/or periodically update the published travel data withup to date travel data. To this end, the computing device 300 mayprovide an up-to-date global map with events and relevant travel data(e.g., relevant data), to viewers (e.g., subscribers to a global mapservice).

Additionally, some or all of the above-referenced data can be stored onseparate memories 330, such as memory 330(1) on board a CPU-typeprocessing unit 306, memory 330(2) on board a GPU-type processing unit308, memory 330(3) on board an FPGA-type accelerator 310(1), memory330(4) on board a DSP-type accelerator 310(2), and or memory 330(M) onboard another accelerator 310(N).

FIG. 4 illustrates an example visualization 400 of information publishedby a global map server, such as global map server 102. The visualization400 may include real-time travel data associated with one or moreevents. In some examples, the global map server may publish theinformation via a web site and/or an application for view by variousentities. In one or more examples, the information may be published uponrequest via an application programmer interface (API). In some examples,the various entities may include subscribers to a global map service.

The visualization 400 may include one or more icons 402 corresponding toone or more events and/or areas of interest. In various examples, theglobal map server may assign an icon to an identified event based on aclassification of the event. In such examples, the icon may depict theclassification of the event. In the illustrative example, thevisualization includes two icons, icon 402(1) depicting an accident, andicon 402(2), depicting a construction zone. In other examples, the iconsmay include a generic icon. In some examples, a classification of theevent may be available responsive to a selection of the icon 402.

In various examples, the icons may be selectable, such as via a cursor406. The cursor 406 may correspond to a touch input on a touch screen, amouse input, a keyboard input, a voice input, or other means by which aviewer may select an icon 402, such as via a user interface of thewebsite and/or application to which the visualization 400 is published.In some examples, real-time travel data 408 may be accessible on thevisualization 400 by selection of an icon 402. The selection may includea click, a mouse over, a touch, a verbal instruction to display traveldata 408, or the like.

In the illustrative example, the icon 402(1) depicts a two-car accident.Responsive to selection of the icon 402(1) by the cursor 406, the traveldata 408 may populate on the visualization 400. As illustrated, thetravel data 408 may include a classification of the event, a location ofthe event, and an image of the event. In other examples, the travel data408 may include a greater or lesser amount of data associated with theevent. In some examples, the amount and/or type of data provided to aviewer may be based on a subscription profile and/or a subscriptionlevel of the viewer to a global map service.

FIGS. 5-7 are flow diagrams of example processes 500, 600, and 700illustrated as a collection of blocks in a logical flow graph, whichrepresent a sequence of operations that can be implemented in hardware,software, or a combination thereof. In the context of software, theblocks represent computer-executable instructions stored on one or morecomputer-readable storage media that, when executed by one or moreprocessors, perform the recited operations. Generally,computer-executable instructions include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, and the like that perform particularfunctions or implement particular abstract data types. The order inwhich the operations are described is not intended to be construed as alimitation, and any number of the described blocks can be combined inany order and/or in parallel to implement the processes.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an illustrative process 500 for gatheringand publishing travel data. In various examples, the process 500 may beperformed by a computing device, such as a vehicle computing device(e.g., computing device 104, 204), a user computing device (e.g.,subscriber device 108, user computing device 228), and/or a global mapserver device (e.g., global map server device 300).

At 502, the computing device receives data from one or more sensors. Theone or more sensors may include cameras, LIDAR sensors, RADAR sensors,(GPS) devices, IMUs, gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers,microphones, weather sensors, and/or other types of sensors foroperating and/or controlling a vehicle and/or for travel datacollection. Additionally, or in the alternative, the sensor input maycomprise text entered via an input device.

At 504, the computing device identifies an area of interest and/or eventbased on the data. In various examples, the computing device mayidentify the area of interest and/or event using object, text, and/orspeech recognition technologies on the data. In various examples, thecomputing device may use machine learning algorithms to identify theevent. In such examples, the sensor data may be input into a neuralnetwork trained to identify events based on objects recognized in imagesand/or words describing the event.

At 506, the computing device may determine a location of the event. Insome examples, the computing device may determine the location byreceiving an indication of a location of the computing device and datafrom a distance and/or direction sensor, such as a LIDAR sensor. In someexamples, the location of the computing device may be determined bytriangulating signals received from cell towers. In various examples,the location of the computing device may be determined (e.g.,calculated) based on data received from a GPS receiver, duringlocalization (e.g., performing simultaneous localization and mapping(SLAM)), an IMU, and/or other navigation sensor on the vehicle 204. Forexample, a GPS receiver may determine a latitude and longitude of thecomputing device, and a LIDAR sensor may determine a distance anddirection (e.g., bearing) from the computing device, or a vehicleassociated therewith, to the event. The computing system may use thelocation of the computing device and the distance and direction to thearea of interest and/or event to calculate a corresponding latitude andlongitude.

At 508, the computing device may assign a classification to the eventand/or area of interest. The classification may include an accident(e.g., car, train, bus, motorcycle), a construction zone, a chemicaland/or fuel spill, a first response vehicle (e.g., ambulance, policecar, fire truck, etc.), a road block (e.g., felled tree, police cordon,etc.), fire (e.g., house fire, wildfire, etc.), disabled vehicle,facility lockdown (e.g., active shooter scenario), inclement weathersituations (e.g., flooding, road plow, etc.), and/or other events thatmay affect transit and/or be of interest to a global map servicesubscriber. In those examples where an area of interest is assigned aclassification, such classification may comprise, for example, a hotel,a gas station, a rest stop, or otherwise, though any otherclassification is contemplated. In various examples, the computingdevice may assign a classification to the area of interest and/or eventusing object, text, and/or speech recognition on the data. In suchexamples, the classification may be based on an object in an image inthe data and/or a word and/or a phrase in the data. Additionally oralternatively, the computing device may use machine learning algorithmsto determine a classification to assign to the event.

In various examples, the computing device may assign a confidence levelto the classification. The confidence level may be based on a success ofobject recognition, a validation by a secondary input (e.g., two or moresensors providing input indicating an event), or the like. For example,a camera on a vehicle may send images of an accident to the computingdevice. Based on a recognition of objects in the images substantiallymatching known objects, the computing device can assign a mediumconfidence level (e.g., 5 out of 10) to the classification as anaccident. Additionally, the computing device may receive audio inputdescribing the event as an accident. The additional audio input may beprocessed by the computing device, and the computing device may increasethe confidence level, such as to a 7 out of 10, based on theconfirmation.

At 510, the computing device may cause the data corresponding to theevent (e.g., travel data) to be published. In various examples, thecomputing device may incorporate travel data into a global map, and maypublish the global map via a website and/or application (e.g. via anapplication programmer interface, API). In some examples, the computingdevice may send the travel data to a global map server. In suchexamples, responsive to receiving the travel data, the global map servermay incorporate the travel data into a global map and publish the globalmap via a website and/or an application. In various examples, an amountof travel data published may be based on a subscription and/orsubscriber profile of a subscriber to a global map service.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of an illustrative process 600 for gatheringand publishing travel data. In various examples, the process 600 may beperformed by a global map server device, such as global map serverdevice 300.

At 602, the computing device may receive travel data from a computingdevice. The travel data may include a classification (e.g., accident,construction site, fire, etc.), a description (e.g., size, effect ontraffic, etc.), a location (e.g., cross streets, latitude/longitude,grid coordinates, etc.), a time stamp, an orientation and/or location ofthe sensor that captured the data, and/or other information associatedwith the event. In some examples, such a classification may bedetermined by one or more of the computing device or the global mapserver. Additionally, or alternatively, the travel data may includeimages (e.g., still picture, video, etc.) and/or voice data describingthe event. The travel data may include text, images, and/or audiosignals corresponding to the event. In some examples, the travel datamay include sensor data generated by one or more sensors of a vehicle.In such examples, the computing device may be configured to process thesensor data to identify and/or classify an event.

In various examples, the computing device and/or the global map servermay determine a confidence level associated with the travel data (e.g.,high confidence, medium confidence, low confidence, confidence score ona scale of 1-10, etc.). The confidence level may be based on a number ofcomputing devices providing information corresponding to the event, alevel of confidence provided by the computing device, a validation by atrusted observer (e.g., a subscriber to an event and/or area of interestmapping service, law enforcement, first responder, etc.), an amount oftravel data related to a single event, or the like. In some examples,particular sources may be recognized by the computing device asproviding better or more trusted data than other sources. For example,the better or more trusted data may be based on technical capabilities(e.g., higher resolution sensors) and/or a historical accuracy (e.g.,97% of the captured data from the device is accurately classified) ofthe source.

In some examples, the computing device may receive travel data from aplurality of computing devices. In such examples, the travel data may becrowd sourced. The computing device may be configured to filter thetravel data from the plurality of computing devices, and associate thetravel data with respective events. Additionally, the computing deviceand/or the global map server may parse and/or combine travel datacorresponding to an event from multiple sources. For example, a firstcomputing device may send a classification and a location of an event tothe computing device (e.g., the global map server) and a secondcomputing device may send an image and a location of the event. Thecomputing device (e.g. the global map server) may combine the traveldata from the first computing device and the second computing device,and associated the combined travel data with the event.

At 604, the computing device may associate an icon corresponding to thearea of interest and/or event with a global map based on a location. Insome examples, the location may be determined based on a location of thecomputing device and/or a distance and direction from the computingdevice to the event. In various examples, the computing device may firstassign the icon based on a classification and/or other travel data.

In various examples, the computing device may determine a route oftravel to avoid the event (e.g., detour route). In such examples, thecomputing device may associate the detour route with other travel data(e.g., classification, location, etc.) for publication.

In some examples, the computing device may be configured to anonymizethe travel data. Anonymizing the data may include filtering (e.g.,removing) sensitive data from the travel data. Sensitive data mayinclude data which can be used to identify an individual, such as alicense plate number, a license plate issuing authority, a bumpersticker, a physical characteristic (e.g., a face, a distinctive tattoo,etc.), a human form, a name, a voice, or other data. Additionally,sensitive data may include offensive language, and/or other undesirableimages or audio.

In various examples, the computing device may be configured to recognizethe sensitive data for anonymity filtering. In some examples, therecognition may be by object, text, and/or speech recognition. Invarious examples, the computing device may apply machine learningtechniques to identify sensitive data. In such examples, the computingdevice may be trained with a dataset to recognize license plates, names,words, phrases, and/or other sensitive data. Additionally, theanonymizing may include removing offensive images from the travel data.In some examples, the anonymized data (e.g., text, image, audio) may beassociated with the icon for publishing therewith.

At 606, the computing device may publish at least a portion of, orinformation derived from, the global map. In some examples, thecomputing device may publish the global map to a website and/orapplication accessible to a global map service subscriber. In variousexamples, the computing device may publish at least a portion of thetravel data and/or the combined travel data with the global map. In someexamples, the computing device may filter travel data and/or combinedtravel data prior to publication based on a subscription (e.g., asubscription level) and/or subscriber profile. In such examples, thecomputing device may remove applicable travel data from the global mapbased on the subscription and/or subscriber profile. For example, atop-level subscription may include any available travel data as well asdetour routing information, and a bottom-level subscription may includeonly an icon corresponding to a classification of the event, and alocation associated with the event.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of an illustrative process 700 for gatheringand publishing travel data. The process 700 may be performed by acomputing device, such as a vehicle computing device (e.g., computingdevice 104, 204), a user computing device (e.g., subscriber device 108,user computing device 228), and/or a global map server device (e.g.,global map server device 300).

At 702, the computing device receives data from one or more sensors. Theone or more sensors may include image capture devices (e.g., cameras),LIDAR sensors, RADAR sensors, SONAR sensors, ultrasonic transducers, GPSreceivers, IMUs, gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers, microphones,weather sensors, and/or other types of sensors for operating and/orcontrolling a vehicle and/or for travel data collection. Additionally,or in the alternative, the sensor input may comprise text entered via aninput device.

At 704, the computing device may determine a classification of the data.The computing device may apply machine learning, object recognition,semantic scene parsing, speech recognition, and/or other techniques todetermine the classification of the data. In various examples, thecomputing device may identify the data as corresponding to an event oran area of interest. In some examples, the identification ascorresponding to the event or the area of interest may be based at leastin part on the classification of the data.

In various examples, the computing device may determine a confidencelevel associated with the classification. In some examples, theconfidence level may be determined as an output of a machine learningalgorithm. In some examples, the confidence level may be determinedbased on result of one or more of object recognition of an image input,speech recognition of an audio input, and/or semantic scene parsing.

In various examples, the computing device may determine a location of anevent and/or area of interest associated with the data. In variousexamples, the location may be based on a data received from a locationsensor associated with the computing device. In some examples, thelocation may be determined based on distance and/or bearing informationto the event and/or area of interest from a sensor capturing thedistance and/or bearing information. For example, the computing devicemay include a computing device associated with a vehicle. The computingdevice may receive a vehicle location from a location sensor of thevehicle. The computing device may also receive a distance and a bearingfrom the vehicle to the event and/or area of interest, such as from aLIDAR sensor. The computing device may then calculate the location ofthe event and/or area of interest based on the vehicle location, thedistance, and the bearing to the event and or area of interest.

In some examples, the location may be further based on a location of thesensor on the vehicle with respect to the vehicle location and/or thelocation of the computing device of the vehicle. In such examples, thecomputing device may include the location of the sensor in a calculationof the location of the event and/or area of interest.

At 706, the computing devices determines that the data is relevant data.In various examples, the data may be determined to be relevant based onthe classification of the data. In some examples, the data may bedetermined to be relevant based on an association of the data with anevent or an area of interest. The relevant data may include dataassociated with an event or an area of interest, such as a location, aneffect on traffic, a time the travel data was last received (e.g., atimestamp), an image, a video, a description of the event and/or area ofinterest, a detour route, and/or other travel data.

At 708, the computing device incorporates the relevant data into aglobal map. The global map may include a topographic map, a street map,a rail map, a weather map, and/or another type of map. As non-limitingexamples, the global map is one or more of a topological map, a gridmap, a relational database, or a lookup table, though any otherrepresentation is contemplated. The global map may include iconscorresponding to an event or an area of interest, or other relevant datadetermined at 706. In some examples, the computing device may beconfigured to determine routing information (e.g., detour information,driving directions, etc.) associated with one or more events. In suchexamples, the global map may include the routing information.

At 710, the computing device receives a request for derived data from arequesting computing device. The second computing device may include asubscriber device, such as subscriber device 108, a global map service(e.g., an event and/or area of interest mapping service) computingdevice, or the like.

At 712, the computing device determines derived data from the globalmap. The derived data may include at least a portion of the relevantdata incorporated into the global map. In some examples, the deriveddata may include relevant data from an area associated with therequesting computing device. Additionally or in the alternative, thederived data may be based on a subscription level and/or subscriptionpreferences of a subscriber to an event and/or area of interest mappingservice. For example, the derived data for a subscriber with a premiumsubscription may include any available relevant data for a particulararea, whereas the derived data for a subscriber with a baselinesubscription may include a classification and a location associated withevents in the area.

At 714, the computing device may transmit the derived data to therequesting computing device. In some examples, the transmission mayinclude a publication to a website and/or application accessible to asubscriber.

It should be appreciated that the subject matter presented herein may beimplemented as a computer process, a computer-controlled apparatus, acomputing system, or an article of manufacture, such as acomputer-readable storage medium. While the subject matter describedherein is presented in the general context of program modules thatexecute on one or more computing devices, those skilled in the art willrecognize that other implementations may be performed in combinationwith other types of program modules. Generally, program modules includeroutines, programs, components, data structures, and other types ofstructures that perform particular tasks or implement particularabstract data types.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that aspects of thesubject matter described herein may be practiced on or in conjunctionwith other computer system configurations beyond those described herein,including multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmableconsumer electronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers, handheldcomputers, mobile telephone devices, tablet computing devices,special-purposed hardware devices, network appliances, and the like.

Based on the foregoing, it should be appreciated that technologies fortravel data collection and publication have been presented herein.Moreover, although the subject matter presented herein has beendescribed in language specific to computer structural features,methodological acts, and computer readable media, it is to be understoodthat the invention defined in the appended claims is not necessarilylimited to the specific features, acts, or media described herein.Rather, the specific features, acts, and media are disclosed as exampleforms of implementing the subject matter recited in the claims.

The subject matter described above is provided by way of illustrationonly and should not be construed as limiting. Furthermore, the claimedsubject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or alldisadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure. Variousmodifications and changes may be made to the subject matter describedherein without following the examples and applications illustrated anddescribed, and without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer implemented method comprising:receiving data from one or more sensors, the data associated with atleast one of an event or an area of interest; determining, from aplurality of classifications and based at least in part on a semanticscene parsing, a classification for the at least one of the event or thearea of interest, wherein the plurality of classifications comprises: afirst classification associated with an accident; a secondclassification associated with a construction site; and a thirdclassification associated with a fire; determining, based at least inpart on the classification, that the data is relevant data;incorporating, at a global map server, the relevant data and theclassification into a global map; receiving a request for derived data;determining, based at least in part on the global map, the derived data;and causing, based at least in part on the derived data, an autonomousvehicle to be deployed to a location associated with the at least one ofthe event or the area of interest in order to gather additional dataassociated with the at least one of the event or the area of interest.2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprisesdetermining a location of the at least one of the event or the area ofinterest associated with the data, wherein determining the locationcomprises: receiving a vehicle location from a location sensor of avehicle; receiving a distance and a bearing from the vehicle to theevent or the area of interest from a ranging sensor of the one or moresensors; and calculating the location of the at least one of the eventor the area of interest based on the vehicle location, the distance, andthe bearing from the vehicle to the at least one of the event or thearea of interest, and further wherein the classification is based, atleast in part, on one or more of: object recognition on an image of thedata, or speech recognition on an audio signal of the data.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the receiving the data from the one or moresensors comprises: receiving the data from one or more of: a camera; aLIDAR sensor; a RADAR sensor; an ultrasonic transducer; a GPS receiver;an accelerometer; a magnetometer; or a gyroscope.
 4. The method of claim1, wherein: determining the classification comprises: inputting at leasta portion of the data into one or more machine learning algorithms;executing the one or more machine learning algorithms; and receiving, asoutput from the one or more machine learning algorithms, theclassification.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining, based at least in part on recognizing an object in an imageof the data, a confidence level of the classification of the data.
 6. Amethod comprising: receiving, at a global map server, travel data from avehicle, wherein the travel data is associated with an event located inan area of a global map; determining, from a plurality ofclassifications and based at least in part on a semantic scene parsing,a classification for the event; incorporating, by the global map server,travel data and the classification into the global map; determiningderived information from the global map, the derived information beingassociated with the area; publishing the derived information; andcausing, based at least in part on the derived information, anautonomous vehicle to be deployed to the area.
 7. The method of claim 6,wherein: the travel data further comprises at least one of: a textdescription of the event, an image of the event, or an audio signalrelated to the event; the determining the derived information comprisesselecting at least a portion of the text description, the image, or theaudio signal; and the plurality of classifications comprises at leastone of: a first classification associated with an accident, a secondclassification associated with a construction site, or a thirdclassification associated with a fire.
 8. The method of claim 6, furthercomprising: identifying a subscriber to a global map service; anddetermining a subscription level of the subscriber, wherein publishingthe derived information is based at least in part on the subscriptionlevel.
 9. The method of claim 6, further comprising assigning aconfidence level to the travel data, wherein the incorporating theevent, the location, and the classification into the global map is basedat least in part on the confidence level being at or above a thresholdconfidence level.
 10. The method of claim 6, wherein the vehiclecomprises a first vehicle, and the method further comprises: assigning aconfidence level to the classification; receiving, at the global mapserver, second travel data from a second vehicle, wherein the secondtravel data corresponds to the event; associating the second travel datawith the event; and increasing the confidence level based at least inpart on the second travel data.
 11. The method of claim 6, wherein thetravel data further comprises text describing the event, and the methodfurther comprises: performing text recognition on the text; removingsensitive data from the text; associating the text with the global map;and publishing the text.
 12. The method of claim 6, wherein the traveldata further comprises an image of the event and the method furthercomprises removing sensitive data from the image prior to publication ofthe global map, wherein the sensitive data comprises at least one of: alicense plate number, a license plate issuing authority, a face of aperson in the image, or a human form.
 13. The method of claim 6, whereinthe vehicle comprises a first vehicle, and the method further comprises:receiving, at the global map server and from a second vehicle, an imagecorresponding to the event; and incorporating the image into the globalmap, wherein determining the derived information comprises selecting theimage.
 14. The method of claim 6, wherein the travel data comprisesfirst travel data received from a first vehicle, and the method furthercomprises: receiving, at the global map server, second travel data froma second vehicle, wherein the second travel data corresponds to theevent; and associating the second travel data with the event, whereindetermining the derived information comprises selecting at least aportion of the second travel data.
 15. A system comprising: one or moreprocessors; and one or more non-transitory computer readable mediastoring computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the oneor more processors, cause the system to perform operations comprising:receiving, at a global map server, travel data from a vehicle, whereinthe travel data comprises a location of an event; determining, from aplurality of classifications and based at least in part on a semanticscene parsing, a classification for the event; determining a confidencelevel of the travel data; incorporating the travel data and theclassification into a global map based at least in part on the locationof the event and the confidence level; determining derived informationfrom the global map; publishing the derived information; and causing,based at least in part on the derived information, the vehicle to bedeployed to an area proximate the location of the event to gatheradditional data associated with the event.
 16. The system of claim 15,wherein the system further comprises a first vehicle, and the operationsfurther comprise: receiving, at the global map server, an audio signalcorresponding to a description of the event from a second vehicle; andincorporating the audio signal into the global map by associating theaudio signal with the travel data, wherein determining the derivedinformation comprises selecting at least a portion of the audio signal.17. The system of claim 15, wherein the travel data comprises firsttravel data received from a first vehicle, and the operations furthercomprise: receiving, at the global map server, second travel data from asecond vehicle, wherein the second travel data corresponds to the event;and associating the second travel data with the event, whereindetermining the derived information comprises selecting at least aportion of the second travel data.
 18. The system of claim 15, whereinthe travel data comprises first travel data received from a firstvehicle, and the operations further comprise: receiving, at the globalmap server, second travel data from a second vehicle, wherein the secondtravel data corresponds to the event; associating the second travel datawith the event; determining whether a first time associated with thefirst travel data is more recent than a second time associated with thesecond travel data, wherein determining the derived informationcomprises selecting the second travel data and not selecting the firsttravel data based on the second time being more recent than the firsttime.
 19. The system of claim 15, wherein the travel data comprisesfirst travel data received from a first vehicle, and the operationsfurther comprise: receiving, at the global map server, second traveldata from a second vehicle, wherein the second travel data correspondsto the event; associating the second travel data with the event;determining that the first travel data comprises a first type of dataand the second travel data comprises a second type of data, whereindetermining the derived information comprises selecting at least aportion of one or more of the first travel data or the second traveldata.
 20. The system of claim 15, wherein the travel data comprisesfirst travel data received from a first vehicle, and the operationsfurther comprise: receiving, at the global map server, second traveldata from a second vehicle, wherein the second travel data correspondsto the event; associating the second travel data with the event; andaltering the confidence level associated with the event, whereinaltering the confidence level comprises one or more of: lowering aconfidence level if the first travel data and the second travel datadisagree, or raising the confidence level if the first travel data andthe second travel data agree.